The reason I do not use an AoA is because I have several different already existing arrays created similar to @excerpts. Each array has a different number of things that are being extracted, but many of them share similar sub-searches. i.e. I have @excerpts1, @excerpts2, ... and the $re1, $re2, ... will have some (fo.) and (ba.) matching expressions that they would have in common.

Not sure that makes sense, but different arrarys would have different number of sub-arrays, and I would have trouble keeping them straight if I didn't use hash keys.

Sorry, It's a Friday, and my brain has already been home for several hours now.